Races in Arizona Still Hang in the Balance Democratic Candidates still can win

[UCmeNdc]

On Thursday, Secretary of State Ken Bennett revealed the magnitude of the situation: 631,274 votes remained uncounted, he said, more than in any presidential election in memory and enough to anger voting- and immigrant-rights advocates, who have called on the Justice Department to investigate. (By Friday, there were 524,633 uncounted ballots.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/us/politics/arizona-races-still-hang-in-the-balance-over-uncounted-votes.html?_r=0


Who can get this mess sorted out?

[Ptah]

1. Pima County to resume ballot count Monday

The Pima County Elections Department will resume counting approximately
3,000 early ballots Monday morning, Nov. 12.

The count is expected to begin at 9 a.m., with the batch completed by the early afternoon.

Elections staff may count additional ballots in the afternoon, depending on the
amount of ballots readied for tabulation.

In the interim, the Recorder’s Office continues working to verify the approximately 27,000 provisional
ballots issued at the polling places. The office has until Nov. 16 to finish verifying those ballots.


http://tucsoncitizen.com/pima-county-news/2012/11/11/media-advisory-pima-county-to-resume-ballot-count-monday/

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CD2 Update: Barber Leads McSally by 330 Votes



As of Sunday night, Congressman Ron Barber leads Republican challenger Martha McSally
by 330 votes, following a report of new vote totals from Cochise County.

Pima County did not count votes today.

This was the first time that Cochise County has delivered a new vote count without McSally
taking the lead back from Barber in the race.

More on the back-and-forth race can be found here:

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2012/11/11/cd2-update-barber-leads-mcsally-by-330-votes

[Coyotl]

2. What is the provisional ballot situation? How many? How are they handled? Answers:

Frustration mounting over uncounted ballots = By NATASHA KHAN/Cronkite News Service
Published: Monday, November 12, 2012 12:58 AM MST - http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2012/11/12/news/state/doc50a0acbb5b36a838002416.txt

PHOENIX — People who said they registered for an early ballot but never received one. People confused about the identification needed to vote. People told they weren’t on a precinct’s voting list. ...

“All of this added up together was that a lot of people that felt frustrated,” said Joaquin Rios, research director and election protection coordinator for the Arizona Democratic Party.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office announced that as of Thursday there were 631,274 ballots yet to be counted, of which 172,196 were provisionals and the rest were early ballots. Those numbers hadn’t declined considerably by the weekend.

Maricopa County reported more than 300,000 uncounted ballots — a combination of early and provisional ballots — while Pima County reported more than 30,000.

.... Rios said the Arizona Democratic Party received reports of polling places with long lines for provisional ballots mainly because of people who registered for an early ballot but never received one. .......

So, how many people need to comply with this provision to have their votes counted?

“Conditional provisional” ballots are cast by voters who don’t provide the right identification. Those voters have until the end of the day Nov. 14, go to their county’s elections office and offer the necessary ID.

=============

2 AZ congressional races still tight
Nov 11, 2012 3:12 PM PST
Posted by Phil Benson - http://www.kpho.com/story/20067576/2-az-congressional-races-still-tight

Two Arizona congressional races remained too close to call Sunday. The hand-picked successor of former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was ahead again in his race to win a full term in Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.

Results posted early Sunday show Democrat Ron Barber pulling ahead of Republican Martha McSally by 289 votes out of more than 250,000 cast in the 2nd Congressional District race. The district covers parts of Pima and all of Cochise County. Pima County expects no vote tallies Sunday and Cochise County officials were unavailable.

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has seen her lead over Republican Vernon Parker in the Phoenix-area's 9th District seat widen to more than 4,700 votes.....

[RBInMaine]

3. AZ Dems need to be doing MASSIVE GOTV to get these provisional voters back to verify their votes.

[Coyotl]

4. Two Congressional seats hang in the balance

And Sheriff Joe, what's up with that race?

Huff P says

"clarification and proper counting of unprecedentedly massive numbers of uncounted ballots that could potentially affect the outcome of the high profile races of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Carmona, among others." ...

... many Arizonans are now questioning the extraordinary levels of provisional ballots issued, and numerous voters have emerged with stories of undue barriers and difficulties at the polls for Latino voters. ....

AP has this = Associated Press Nov 11, 2012 - 3:28 pm

PHOENIX -- Two Arizona congressional races remained too close to call Sunday.

The hand-picked successor of former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was ahead again in his race to win a full term in Arizona's 2nd Congressional District.

Results posted early Sunday show Democrat Ron Barber pulling ahead of Republican Martha McSally by 289 votes out of more than 250,000 cast in the 2nd Congressional District race. The district covers parts of Pima and all of Cochise County. Pima County expects no vote tallies Sunday and Cochise County officials were unavailable.

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has seen her lead over Republican Vernon Parker in the Phoenix-area's 9th District seat widen to more than 4,700 votes.

Maricopa County still has 322,000 early and provisional ballots to count. Pima County has about 33,000 to count. .........

[LisaL]

5. What is the deal with AZ? It needs to be investigated.

That is an enormous number of provisional ballots. Even OH has ~3-fold less.

[ellisonz]

6. This is outrageous.

The Justice Department should investigate for violations of the Voting Rights Act.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

7. +1 nt

[jsmirman]

9. Is anywhere in Arizona actually covered under the VRA?

[ellisonz]

10. What you're thinking of is the pre-clearance clause...

...which is only applicable to certain states (including Arizona):



If election officials anywhere in the United States have conspired to deny any individual the right to vote on the basis of right, it is a federal offense.

"SEC. 2. No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. "

--------

SEC. 12. (a) Whoever shall deprive or attempt to deprive any person of any right secured by section 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10 or shall violate section 11(a) or (b), shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=100&page=transcript

[Mr.Turnip]

8. Worse than Florida